Malibu wildfire winds down

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Firefighters from Los Angeles County and Riverside County douse hotspots Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007, at the home of Michael “Flea” Balzary, of the rock band “The Red Hot Chili Peppers,” that burned to the ground in Malibu, Calif. Balzary owned the home but was not living there at the time of the fire. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

MALIBU – Residents began making their way back along winding canyon roads Sunday to see whether their homes survived a sprawling, wind-driven inferno that a day earlier scorched thousands of acres of surrounding hillside and more than 50 houses.

Several homes along Corral Canyon Road, which bore the brunt of the blaze, were reduced to blackened wrecks, while many others were nearly unscathed.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” said Frank Churchill, who returned home with his wife and four children to find his white stucco home largely undamaged, while three neighboring homes were leveled. “It doesn’t make sense.”

In all, 53 homes and 27 outbuildings were destroyed by Saturday’s fast-moving wildfire, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. Thirty-four other homes were damaged and as many as 14,000 people were evacuated from the blaze, which was whipped up by hot, dry Santa Ana winds.

Throughout the day Sunday, weather conditions worked in firefighters’ favor. A cool breeze blowing in from the Pacific Ocean kept temperatures low and moisture levels high.

The fire that scorched 4,720 acres since early Saturday was about 70 percent contained, with full containment expected today, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said.

Malibu had been recovering from last month’s 4,565-acre Canyon Fire that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church when the winds began whipping up again overnight Saturday.

“You think it’s over for the year, and then, it’s here we go again,” Montebello City Fire Capt. Fernando Peliaz said as his crew soaked down the still-smoldering remains of a home.

Some residents whose property made it through last month’s fire unscathed were not as lucky a second time.

“This time I lost,” said a soot-covered Glen Sunyich, who watched his stucco and tile house he built in 1990 slowly burn to the ground. “It means that I didn’t build it well enough.”

David Swain, 77, an electrical engineer, sifted the remnants of his home of 31 years that had stood on a hillside with sweeping views of the Pacific. The only possessions that survived were the clothes he stood up in and his pets – two dogs and a ferret – that he took with him when he evacuated early Saturday.

While other residents appeared shell-shocked as they picked through their charred homes, Swain remained upbeat.

“You can focus on what you lost, or you can focus on what you are going to do,” said Swain, who already was making plans to rebuild his home. “It’s a beginning.”

Another resident who lost his home was Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, whose real name is Michael Balzary, property records showed.

Balzary had purchased another home in Malibu last year, but the one destroyed was for sale for $4.8 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the predicted Santa Ana winds.

Thirty aircraft including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet attacked from the air Saturday while 1,700 firefighters battled flames on the ground. Seven firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Investigators said the fire, which broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway, was caused by humans, but they had not determined whether it was started intentionally, county fire Inspector Rick Dominguez said.

Sheriff’s deputies with bloodhounds were seen headed into the area that residents said is a popular spot for outdoor partying by young people. Several locals were convinced the fire was started by late-night revelers who may have lit a campfire.

“I’ve been up there and seen howling groups of teenagers drinking,” Corral Canyon Road resident Ricardo Means, 57, said of the rugged spot near the far end of the winding road where blackened beer bottles could be seen littering the ground.

Malibu, with homes tucked into deep and narrow canyons along 27 miles of coast on the southern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains, is prone to Santa Ana-driven wildfires. Among them was a 1993 blaze that destroyed 388 structures, including 268 homes, and killed three people.

Saturday’s fire was west of the areas of Malibu that burned in October. Despite the constant threat of wildfires and other natural hazards, residents seem to love living here. A sense of community, quietness compared to Los Angeles and proximity to nature are all cited by locals.

“It’s just tranquillity after madness of the city,” said stem-cell researcher Denis Rodgerson, whose house survived. “It’s a nice place.”

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